The Pittsburgh Steelers are an old school organization in the NFL. The franchise has been passed down through the Rooney family since it was originally purchased by Art Rooney back in 1933. The organization has a certain way of doing things. Loyalty is important, as are the various rules set forth by the team. It is easy to tell how old school the Steelers are, especially just by looking at the locker room and other things around the facility. In recent years, the facility has been a negative talking point for Pittsburgh, which was on clear display on the NFLPA's 2024 report card.
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Steelers' Art Rooney II looks on before a game in Pittsburgh under the lights.
One player who was new to Pittsburgh during the 2024 season is DeShon Elliott. Elliott has been playing like an All-Pro in 2024, and he has been a pleasant surprise to the defense. He also used to play for the Baltimore Ravens for four seasons, which is who Pittsburgh plays in Week 11. On Wednesday, Elliott joined current Raven Marlon Humphrey on his podcast The Punchline Podcast With Marlon Humphrey. Elliott was asked about certain things and whether or not they are better in Baltimore or Pittsburgh.
"Facilities, Baltimore. Obviously," Elliott quickly said. "I mean honestly yeah, Baltimore has the better facilities. But like, we share our facilities with the University Of Pittsburgh, which I don't know why we do that. But we do. I'm still new here, so I don't know the ins and outs of why we do certain things around here, but we do."
The Steelers are in a rare spot where they actually share their everyday facilities with a college program. Some teams around the league share their field with a college football team, which is something the Philadelphia Eagles do with Temple. However, the Steelers are the only team that shares their training facility with a college football team.
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Steelers' DeShon Elliott takes a knee during OTAs in his first year with Pittsburgh.
Another example of how poor the Steelers facilities actually are is that players sometimes must go elsewhere to get treatment or use certain equipment. Rookie cornerback Beanie Bishop Jr. has to go back to West Virginia every week to use certain recovery equipment on his off days because the Steelers don't provide that equipment for their players.
The poor facilities are a serious black eye on the organization. Some players like the old school feel that the Steelers have, but it can also be a deterrent to a lot of players. Facilities and equipment is something athletes consider when they are going through free agency, and every other NFL team has some nice, fancy, futuristic-looking locker room. Meanwhile, the Steelers locker room looks the same as a high school football team's.
Pittsburgh received an F for their locker room and a D+ for their training room on the NFLPA's most recent report card. That is atrocious, and hopefully ownership is looking into finding ways to improve these parts of the organization.
Steelers Have Enough Pull To Bring In Talent Without Flashy Facilities
With how poorly the Steelers facilities and locker room is received by the NFLPA, it would be reasonable to assume that the organization has trouble bringing in top-end talent, but that is not the case. It seems players are attracted to the old school approach to things. Elliott even famously turned around and pointed to the logo during his introductory press conference when he was asked why he signed with Pittsburgh. Some players just love the idea of playing for such a historic organization, especially under a head coach like Mike Tomlin.
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Even though the poor facilities haven't posed many issues for the Steelers, they should still be upgraded. It will become a bigger problem eventually, so it would be better if the organization just got out in front of it now.
What do you think about Elliott's comments? Should the Steelers upgrade their facilities? Let us know in the comments below!
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